Dark Edge Village

While the Iuchi would not be quite so reckless as to let the samurai of the Empire practice Meishodo without years of training, they still value the craftsmanship that goes into the construction of their talismans. To that end, they have gathered the contestants together, placed them at a series of long tables laden with multiple carving tools, and given each of them a single bean, roughly one inch long and half that in diameter.

Each of the contestants is to use the provided tools to carve the kanji for their name into the bean they have been provided... a very difficult prospect, at best.


Time Slot: Early Afternoon

Magic: Not Allowed



This is a Tiny Bean: Each character makes a TN 15 Investigation (Notice)/Perception Roll. On a success, the character is able to focus on the bean and start carving. The character gains 1 Carving Point, plus 1 Carving Point per successful Raise. On a failure, the character isn't able to focus enough of the tiny bean to accomplish anything of worth and cannot advance any further in this event.


Carving Skills: The character must then make a TN 15 Artisan: Sculpting/Awareness or Craft: Meishodo/Intellect Roll to carve their kanji into the bean without dealing any damage to the rest of the it. On a success, the character earns 1 Carving Point, plus one Carving Point per successful Raise. On a failure, the character damages the bean and loses 1 Carving Point per failed Raise.


Pretty Letters: It's also important to carve the letters in a way that's pleasing to the eye! The character makes a TN 15 Calligraphy/Intelligence Roll. On a success, the character earns 1 Carving Point, plus one Carving Point per successful Raise. On a failure, the character damages the bean and loses 1 Carving Point per failed Raise.


Scoring: The character(s) who earns the most Spirit Points earn 3 Courtship Points, the character(s) who earn the second-most Spirit Points will earn 2 Courtship Points, and the character(s) who earn the third-most Spirit Points will earn 1 Courtship Point.

Characters that successfully complete this even with one or more Raises on each step gain the following advantage:

Carved Bean [Material] (2)

- You have a tiny bean, upon which you have carved the kanji for your name. So long as you carry the bean on your person, the TN of any spells targeting you is increased by +2.

Mizuki find a bean. It is a good bean.

And then, the problems start. Mizuki's carving skills were bad. Oops. Did she cut off part of the bean? Better to move on.

Mizuki starts trying to make her name look pretty. She cuts the bean into several pieces. Well, at least she had high status and was rich.

-1 Point

Bantu took his time looking over the bean, looking for the perfect place to start. Then he saw a little seam down the middle of the bean, the perfect place for his first incision.

Then with a careful flick of the wrist....he bisected the bean. Wait, that didn't look right. He glanced around the room at the others and they were all working with full beans. Kuso

Making the best of what he had left to work with, he managed to carve a tiny pony into the remaining fragment, but it wasn't enough to impress any of the judges.

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D10 This is a Tiny Bean, VP for +1k1. TN15: 3d10 20 = 1 point
D10 Carving Skills. VP for Craft: Meishodo skill. 2 CR TN25: 5d10o10k4 14 = -2 points
D10 Pretty Letters TN15: 4d10 29 = 1 point

Total = 0

Yukarin sat down with her bean; Frowning she picked up a pointy looking tool... and promptly stabbed a hole through the bean, just missing her finger; Yipes!

Shaken but not cowed she finished her name, sighing deeply; At least it was very nice handwriting.

+×÷=+×÷=+×÷=+×÷=

Step 1 (1)
Step 2 (-1)
Step 3 (3)

Total = 3 spirit points

Udo looks at the bean, confused.

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Fail

Fukawa sat down for the final competition, and listened to the instructions, her On completely neutral.

Despite Butaj and Kogo's railing against things like Crane On, they'd never understand the kind of intense training one had to go through to dampen down any reactions except vague politeness.

Did they ever tell the story of Doji and Kakita while peeling onions? No.

Did they try singing about the beauty of the stars in the sky while having buckets of cold water dumped on them? No.

Nude Oratory lessons in front of the girls? Of course not. (Thank the fortunes that the rumor that it would be in front of the boys was false. Even if she suspected Akane was a member of the stallionless herd.)

So when met with yet another ridiculous task, one that would make even a Togashi pause, she simply met the Iuchi with a polite bow.

She considered the tools. In her petite hands, they looked more appropriate for attempting to carve the Spine of the World into the size of a bean, not write her name on a bean.

She considered her hands. If she had let her nails grow long like some of the ladies of court, maybe she could have carved her name with those. Maybe she would have been the best at what she did, in that case. But those were so annoying to maintain, and were so time consuming to repair when broken.

She spent the rest of the time considering the bean.

When the Iuchi returned to examine the beans and retrieve the tools, she offered another polite bow.

"The heart of sculpting is to see what is hidden within the material and free it. I have studied this bean, and I am sorry, but my name is not trapped within it." she explains, handing things over.

Still, at least it was a nice day.
1 CR, because I don't care about CP, and want a bean I won't use. 15 vs. 20 fails

Fluff later.

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OOC:
Stage 1: 2 Points
Stage 2: 1 Point
Stage 3: 2 points

5 Points.

Dong-Ha graciously accepted his bean and sat down with it, holding the toothpick in the other hand. As hard as he focused, he couldn't quite see... anything else than the bean, really.

_____________
This is a Tiny Bean: TN 15 Investigation (Notice)/Perception Roll. Void for +1k1: 4d10o10k3 14

Shinjo Liu Yue sat at the table and looked at all of the tools placed on the table. How am I going to even do this?! She picked up the bean and held it in front of her one good eye. It's... a bean.

Unless told otherwise, she threw the bean into her mouth and ate it.

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Investigation (Notice)/Perception TN 15, Bad Eyesight, VP for +1k1: 13 Failure!

Carving on beans? That seemed odd... none of the Meishodo amulets she had seen so far seemed to be beans, but rather pretty stones or such. Wouldn't it had been better for her to offer her jade or the stone from the River of Gold instead, she wondered, but went along with the instructions instead. She had done well yesterday, even when she had embarrassed herself with her body giving out on her at the end. Now she needed to do even better!

With an intense focus, the rabbit worked on her 'meishodo bean', carving it with utmost care to detail that she remembered from the charms that Dong-Ha and Saksaha carried with them. Her practiced hand with calligraphy gave her a steadiness to finish it off with a good flourish.

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D10 EA EVENT: This teeny tiny little bean... as teeny tiny as me! Void +1k1. TN 15: 3d10 19
D10 EA EVENT: Carving, carving, carving... With love! Void for skill (Craft: Meishodo/Int). 1 raise. TN 20: 5d10o10k4 33
D10 EA EVENT: Pretty letters for my pretty love! <3 2 raises. TN 25: 6d10o10k4 36

6 points!

Tsukimi examined the bean, and set about carving her name into it. She chipped off a piece at the bottom, leaving the bean with a jagged slant. Oh well.

Investigation/Perception TN 15: 3d10o10k2 17 = 1 Carving pt
Artisan: Sculpting/Awareness TN 15 Void 1k1: 4d10k4 12
Calligraphy/Intell TN 15 Void 1k1: 3d10k3 28 = 1 Carving pt
= 2 Carving pts

Seemed that Asakiko.was still trippy from the night before as she talked to a pretty butterfly. "So you took my bean away..." The Moshi frowned. "Why?"

Investigation Void phantom skill TN 15: 3d10o10k2 12

This might be a useful skill to learn, though he was not sure he had the talent to master to odd arts of the Unicorn, he was willing to give it a try.

The bean is really quite small though, how does one even start? Well, like all things it was small but contained multitudes, and Nonin set to work. Fine work physical work was not his best talent, so he was as careful as he could be and it worked out alright. Now to make it look nice, a small flourish here? Perfect!

The judges seem pleased with his efforts and even let him keep the bean. He bowed this thanks deeply.


OOC:
Part 1, Success, 1 Point
Part 2, Success, 1 Point
Part 3, Success with 1 raise, 2 Points

Total 4 Carving Points and a Bean!

This...this was something to do with how the Iuchi did magic?

Utterly fascinated, and more than a bit surprised, Hirase sat himself down to the project with enthusiasm.

He picked the bean up, turning it this way and that. Eventually, he found a surface which was aesthetically pleasing and the right size for the kanji.

Then he took up the tiny little tools. He spent a while examining them, turning them this way and that. They reminded him a bit of the ones used to trim bonsai trees, something he'd dabbled with in his training but ultimately had never pursued. Still, that old familiarity was helpful and, with care, he managed to etch the symbols in as the Iuchi instructed.

Finally, it was the time to fill in with some colors. In honor of the Clan he intended to join, he chose a vivid lavender for his work and, with admirable flourish, soon completed the work.


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Tiny bean is tiny: Pass, +1
Carving: Pass, +1
Calligraphy: Pass w/1 raise, +2

4 points

*edited because I can't read.

Kemuri didn't really understand what they were making, but the task seemed simple enough. After a few moments of inspection, he found the perfect bean.

Carving it came easier than he expected and he was satisfied with the quality of his work.

Unfortunately, his caligraphy still needed work. The kanji were legible this time, but lacked the flair he wanted.



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This is a Tiny Bean: Success with 2 CR
Carving Skills: Success
Pretty Letters: Failure

4 Points